Fourth Udasi
Guru Nanak's fourth Udasi (1519 to 1521)
The fourth Udasi was undertaken towards the west.
From there he boarded a ship for Arabia.
Guru Nanak At Mecca
He disguised himself in the blue dress of a Muslim pilgrim, took a faqir's staff in his hand and a collection of his hymns called 'Pothi' under his arm. He also carried with him like a Muslim devotee, a cup for his ablutions and a rug whereon to pray. Like a pilgrim he went inside the great mosque where the pilgrims were engaged in their devotions. When he lay down to sleep at night, he purposely took care to turn his feet towards the Kaaba. A priest, Jiwan kicked him and said, "Who is this infidel sleeping with his feet towards the House of God?" The Guru replied, "Turn my feet in the direction in which God is not." Upon this Jiwan seized the Guru's feet and dragged them in the opposite direction. Whereupon, it is said, the Kaaba (temple) turned around, and followed the revolution of the Guru's body. Some say that when the Guru asked the priest to turn his feet in the direction where God was not, the priest came to realization that God was everywhere. But those who witnessed this miracle were astonished and saluted the Guru as a supernatural being.
Then the Qazis and the Mullas crowded round the Guru and asked whether he was a Muslim or a Hindu? The Guru replied that he was neither of the two. Then they asked, "Who is the superior of the two, the Hindu or the Muslim?" The Guru replied, "Without good deeds, both will repent. The superiority lies in deeds and not in mere creeds." The chief priest was a seeker of the Truth and he asked for Guru's blessings. The Guru preached the doctrine of Nam. He then gave instructions to the priest in the art of true living, to practice to live in His presence day and night and to glorify the Lord and thereby to rub out the dirt of sins from the tablet of the mind.
Guru At Medina
In due time the Guru proceeded to Medina (lit. The City) the holy city of the Muslims where their Prophet Mohammad lived for many years and breathed his last. He reached at nightfall and stopped outside the town. It happened to be a place where lepers were segregated and no provision was made for their comfort or treatment. History states that the Guru healed them all and as a result, the people came in crowds to have holy glimpse of the Guru. After that he journeyed to Baghdad through Basra.
Guru At Baghdad
There lived a very famous Muslim saint, Pir Abdul Kadar who died in Baghdad in 1166 A.D. He was also known as Dastgir and his successors were called Dastgirs too. The Muslim high priests did not like unethical and immoral musical verses. Instead of condemning the demoralizing poetry, they outrightly rejected the music ('Rag') itself. So according to Muslim Shariat (code of law), music was forbidden. The whole of Sikh scripture is in verse and in various different forms of Rags and Raginis. In the morning the Guru shouted the call for prayer, on which the whole population became rapt in silent astonishment. May be he did it differently than the Muslims. Then Mardana played the Rabab and the Guru started the Shabad Kirtan (musical recitation of Gurbani). Whosoever heard was in ecstasy. The news spread in the city. The high priest Pir Dastgir, another holy man, Bahlol and others came to see the Guru.
According to the Mohammadans there are seven skies above the earth and seven nethers including earth itself. The Guru began to recite the Japji. When he repeated the twenty-second pauri (stanza) of Japji, the Pir got wonder-stuck hearing something contrary to the authority of the holy Quran, that there were hundreds of thousands of nethers and upper regions, and that at last men grew weary of searching for them. The Pir then called upon the Guru to give a manifestation of what he said. Upon this it is said, the Guru laid his hand on the priest's son and showed him upper and lower regions described in Japji- pauri 22. To prove whether the boy actually saw those regions, he brought Parshad (sacred food) from one of those regions and gave it to his father. Both the Pir and Bahlol bowed before the Guru and asked for his blessings.
Bahlol became Guru's follower. It is said that he spent sixty years at the foot of the slab, where the sacred feet of the Guru had rested during their discussion. Later on a shrine was built there in the memory of the Guru. The English translation of the inscription on the slab inside the shrine is:
- "In memory of the Guru, that is the Divine Master, Baba Nanak, Faqir Aulia, this building has been raised with the help of seven saints, and the chronogram reads. The blessed disciple has produced a spring of Grace year 917" (Muslim year).
Swami Anand Acharya of Sweden mentions in his book Snow Bird, published by Macmillan & Sons, London, that during his visit to Baghdad, he found another inscription on the slab, dated 917 Hijri. The inscription reads:
- "Here spoke the Hindi Guru Nanak to Faqir Bahlol, and for these sixty years since the Guru left Iraq, the soul of Bahlol has rested on the Master's word like a bee poised on a dawn-lit honey rose."
Return From Baghdad
From Baghdad the Guru passed through Iran, Turkstan and Afghanistan and then reached Kabul. Some writers believe that the Guru took the popular route from Baghdad towards Tehran, Kandhar and reached Kabul. On his way he passed through Mehds. Bhai Mani Singh's Janamsakhi makes a reference of his visit to this place. Since the visit of Guru Nanak to Kabul, the Sikh contacts had been carefully maintained. Sikh preachers were stationed there to disseminate the teachings of the Guru. At one time Bhai Gurdas also served as one of the Sikh missionaries at Kabul.
From Kabul the Guru proceeded to Jalalabad, Sultanpur and passed through the Khyber Pass to reach Peshawar. There are Gurdwaras at Jalalabad and Sultanpur to mark his visit. There are springs of water associated with his visit. The Guru paid a visit to the Gorakh Hatri and had discourse with Yogis. He also went to Hassan Abdal, now known as Panja Sahib, and sat at the foot of the hill.
Guru Nanak in Hassan Abdal
Guru At Saidpur/Eminabad
External Links
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First Udasi · Second Udasi · Third Udasi · Fourth Udasi · Fifth Udasi |
